If You Could Live Forever
by Specter Von Baren
Summary: One question with many answers.


He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. His current refuge under the bench had been enough to hide him from their first sweep, but it was foalish to think it would last forever.

He eyed a large, thick bush nearby. His eyes darted right. His eyes darted left. The coast was clear. Quickly, he dashed out from under the bench, head whirling around to see if his pursuers were in sight. This, however, caused him to miss the rock in his path and he tripped on it, tumbling end over end.

Panic seized him as he got up and sprinted the remaining distance to the bush. Diving in head first he lay as still as possible as he tried to slow his breathing.

_It's a good thing I have thick scales or that would have hurt. Now I just need to make my way from hiding place to hiding place until I can get out of here._

His hearing alerted him to the sound of hoof beats.

Instinctively, he held his breath. _Did they hear me? Were they coming this way? Which direction was that sound coming from? Do they still have the scalpels? Anything but the scalpels!_

Slowly, the hoof steps grew closer, eventually stopping in the direction of the bench.

After a few seconds he heard the pony speak, "Nope… Darn, I was sure this was where he would've hid."

_Of course it would be the unicorn that figured out my hiding place! They were always the smart ones. If I hadn't changed spots just now then… No, don't think about it! It's too horrible to think about._

Slowly and carefully, he angled himself so he could see what was happening through a small gap near the bottom of the bush.

There she was, but where there had once been a nurse's hat on her head, there now lay a gray fedora.

The unicorn mused to herself. "Hhm… but if he's not here… then where would he have hid?"

Seeing her start to look around, he backed further into the bush until he was only able to see his pursuer's legs. He then made a silent promise to Celestia that he would never use up all the hot water ever again if he made it out of this.

"Maybe in the bushes?"

_Why have you betrayed me?_

Suddenly, a voice with a southern twang called out as the sound of four pairs of hooves reached his ears. "HEY! Did ya find him?"

"No… not yet anyway." replied the unicorn as she turned to the two new ponies, one orange, one yellow.

"What's with the hat?" asked a scratchy voice.

_Yeah… Where **did **she get that hat?_

"Oh! I was just thinking, instead of physicians, we could be detectives!"

"Yeah! We could be… The S.A.S. Detective Agency!

"The what now?" asked the southern voice.

"It's made of the first letter in all our names. I remember reading that detective organizations do that in one of my comic books."

Had he not been so terrified, he would have been happy to note that he wasn't the only one that read "The Joys and Perils of the P.U.N.K. Detectives" comic book series.

He could see the legs of the yellow pony turn to face the orange one. "Now, come on. That can't be true."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Before the argument could go on any further, the unicorn butted between the two arguing ponies and said. "Guys! Why don't we just use the name we always do?"

There was a pause followed by a very loud, and very painful, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DETECTIVE AGENCY! YAY!"

He could feel his ears ache, his teeth rattle, and his eyes vibrate from the deafening shout of the three fillies. _Why… do they have to do that?_

After that assault on his ears, the unicorn continued, "Okay then. If we're going to be detectives then we're going to need the proper tools!"

"Ah think I saw the magic shop selling detective kits just the other day!"

"Well what are we waiting for? We'll go to town, get the stuff and then begin…" The scratchy voice turned dramatic, "The Case of the Missing Patient!"

He could hear all three of the fillies run off towards Ponyville as he relaxed, _Thank you Celestia. I never doubted you for a second...__What's that burning feeling?_

Realizing that he'd forgotten to breath, Spike let out a huge gasp of air as he attempted to soothe the fire in his lungs.

After catching his breath, he made his way out of the bush and started heading towards Fluttershy's cottage, hoping he could wait until the Crusaders got bored looking for him and he could go home.

Spike sighed. _This was supposed to be my day off. I even made a schedule for it! Get up early, go to Sweet Apple Acres and see if they have any leftover apple pie, sleep off the food with a nap in the sun, cash in on that favor Roseluck owes me and get a bouquet of purple roses for Rarity, woo the love of my life, and spend the rest of the day being with the most wonderful pony in the world…_

Spike narrowed his eyes and breathed a puff of smoke from his nostrils. _But nooooo! Couldn't even get past step two, _he thought as he recollected the earlier events in his mind.

On his way through the apple orchard, Spike had suddenly been jumped by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had tied him up and taken him to their club house where they strapped him down to a table and declared him to be their patient.

Spike shivered, his anger being replaced by fear as he forced himself to forget the events that had followed. He would still be there if he hadn't burned his restraints with his flame breath while they had gone outside to get the hacksaw.

Pushing the memories aside, Spike returned his attention to the real world as something strange caught his eye. It was an apple tree. A gray, withered, and unmistakably dead, apple tree.

Spike, surprisingly, could tell what had caused this. When you were the number one assistant of Twilight Sparkle, you tended to learn more than you could have ever hoped, or wanted to, on your own.

One of the things that had bored into his skull was in fact, borers. Certain insects would bore into trees to lay eggs that would then hatch worms that would burrow into the tree and, if there were enough of them, kill it. Though it seemed that in the case of this tree, the Apple family had already exterminated the bugs before they could spread to the other trees and they just hadn't gotten around to cutting it down yet.

To Spike, the tree looked very sad. All around were healthy trees with bright red apples and vibrant green leaves, yet this one was gray, missing bark in many places or rotting in others, and the whole thing seemed to be leaning to one side.

_I'd hate to see this happen to Bloomberg,_ he thought, hoping that they didn't have these kinds of bugs out in Appleloosa. _I'd hate to see any of my friends end up like that._

_Oh come on Spike. Nothing bad ever happens here… Except for Ursa Minors attacking, ponies getting turned to stone, parasprite infestations…_ _Okay, so maybe some freak occurrences come up from time to time but it's nothing we haven't been able to handle before._

_Well… nothing everyone else hasn't been able to handle before._

Indeed, he realized that whenever something came up, it was always everyone else that got to do something about it. When Nightmare Moon came he had been useless and asleep the entire time. When he had tried to save Rarity from the Diamond Dogs, everyone else did all the work and Rarity had freed herself. When Twilight didn't come home for a whole day, he hadn't even thought that she had gotten into trouble and if not for Fluttershy she could have been a statue forever.

His expression darkened, _some number one assistant I am… A dragon that can't do anything to help his friends._

Depressed, Spike slowly walked away from the dead apple tree and headed towards Ponyville, any fear of the Cutie Mark Crusaders now gone from his mind and replaced only by sadness and anger.

[] [] []

"Will zat be all monsieur?"

Spike glowered at the waiter, "More hay fries."

The waiter made a subtle glance at the table where there were several empty plates, one still having quite a few of the crispy treats.

"Pardon me sir, but you seem to still have several frites left and your tab is… shall we say… starting to run high."

Spike sighed, "Fine I get it. Just bring me one more plate and I'll leave."

The waiter himself then sighed. Though the young dragon's gorging was worrisome, it was strict policy of 'The Trefoil of Satisfaction' to serve their customers till they were indeed satisfied.

"Very well sir, your frites will be out in a moment."

As the waiter left, Spike went back to munching through his food.

There were three things Spike would do when he was in a bad mood. Sleep, eat, or make contrived and completely obvious plans to sabotage the object of his discontent, typically ending in a spectacular disaster. Today, he had chosen the second option.

Once he had gotten back to Ponyville, Spike had headed for the nearest restaurant, 'The Trefoil of Satisfaction', Spike questioned the logic of putting a clover on your sign when the place was called Tree Foil but they had good food so he had plopped down at one of the tables outside, began ordering food, and had continued doing this for the last hour.

Though he didn't have any real bits of his own, anything he and Twilight needed was paid for out of Princess Celestia's own saddle-bag. Twilight tried to avoid any unnecessary purchases, but Spike was not as inclined to avoid splurging from time to time. Though he knew he would probably get scolded for it later, right now he just didn't care.

Spike slouched over, letting his head rest on the table in front of him. _What good is it to have friends you care about and that care about you when you can't do anything to help or protect them when they need you most?_

"Here are your frites, sir."

Spike mumbled out his thanks.

"And will you be having anything, mademoiselle?"

_Huh?_

"I'll have a Cavallo salad please, with extra cheese and no pepper and some tea to go with it, Horte."

"Very well, your meal will be out in a moment."

Spike looked up and found himself gazing at the most beautiful thing in the world.

Her mane was a lovely shade of indigo and expertly curled in an elaborate fashion. Her coat gleamed like a brilliant pearl in the sunlight and her eyes were accentuated by a small amount of mascara and were clear and blue like lapis lazuli.

It was… Rarity.

The refined unicorn turned to him, acting as if she had just noticed the dragon for the first time.

"Now now, Spike, a true gentlecolt does not slouch." she said as she used her magic to set him in an upright position with his back straight and claws folded in his lap.

"A gentlecolt also knows better than to mope about something and find comfort only in cuisine. He would instead confide in one of his friends so they could discover a solution. Now, tell me, what's wrong?"

Spike glanced to the side. Though he'd do anything for Rarity, right now he really didn't feel like talking to anyone. But as he looked back up at her, he saw her face and how it held only sincere patience and concern for him and felt his reservations leave his mind.

So he told her about how he was feeling, how he felt so useless being left behind all the time, how he was so frustrated that he couldn't do anything to protect himself or his friends and how he questioned how he was supposed to deal with these feelings and what good he was if he couldn't keep the ones he cares about safe. During his rant, Rarity's food arrived and she began eating it slowly and in her usual proper and polite manor but all the while keeping her attention on Spike, listening to everything he said.

As Spike finished his tirade, so too did Rarity finish her salad.

After wiping her mouth daintily with a napkin, she finally responded, "That's a very good question Spike. And one that is not easy to answer, nor am I sure I have one for you."

Spike looked down, feeling disappointed that she couldn't help him.

"But I will try as best as I can."

He looked back up at her with a look of inquisitiveness and a small amount of hope.

"Let me tell you about something that I myself experienced. When my father… died," she said, her face taking on a look of sadness, "leaving me alone to look after myself and raise Sweetie Belle, I became determined and diligent to seeing that the two of us would always have warm beds and full plates."

Spike was a little shocked. He knew that Rarity and Sweetie Belle lived alone, but he didn't know that it was because of such miserable circumstances.

She continued, "I had to take whatever job I could and when I wasn't working, I was looking after Sweetie Belle or making small necklaces and rings to try and acquire extra money."

Rarity's face lost its gloomy look and instead, pride and happiness showed in her eyes. "Though it took a long time, thanks to my hard work and effort, I was finally able to open 'Carousel Boutique'. I was able to have a career doing something I loved and support both myself and my younger sister."

Though it was a good story and it made him appreciate Rarity even more than he already did, Spike didn't see what this had to do with his problem. Before he could voice this, she spoke up again, the sad look returning to her face.

"However… despite all this, I didn't realize that I was also hurting my sister. You see Spike, back then, I wouldn't let my sister do anything. I made sure she stayed at home, safe and sound, and I didn't let her make any friends."

She sighed, "I was afraid… Afraid of losing her. I didn't want to lose the only family I had left and so I kept her from interacting with the outside world in order to make sure she never got hurt.

"But this backfired on me. You know how she's so good at singing?"

Spike nodded his head at this. He had once told Twilight he was just going to tell Sweetie Belle that it was her special talent, but she had convinced him that it was important for the filly figure it out on her own.

"Well the reason for that is because she used to always listen to the radio at our old home. It was her favorite thing to do and my greatest joy was coming home and hearing her sing along with whatever song was playing at the time." A look of nostalgia passed over Rarity's face at the simple memory.

"But when we moved to Carousel Boutique, that old radio accidentally got broken when it was being transported. Sweetie Belle cried and yelled at me so much that day… she just couldn't deal with losing the only place she ever knew and her most prized possession with it

"She stopped speaking to me and even though I bought her, a new radio, she refused to sing anymore." Rarity gave Spike a sad smile, "It was then that I realized that I was smothering her and keeping her from growing. Without friends in her life, her whole world was only me and that old machine. I had pushed her away and taken the radio, leaving her with nothing.

"So I stopped sheltering her. It took some time, but I was able to introduce her to the outside world by taking her with me on small trips outside our house and when the day came that she started going to school, she was able to make her first friend in Scootaloo and eventually Applebloom as well."

What I'm trying to tell you with this, Spike, is that although it's scary to do so sometimes, you have to trust your loved ones to be able to take care of themselves. Even if you want to be there for them all the time, that's just not something that can be done. And though nothing lasts forever, you can at least remember the times you've spent together. The most important thing is being able to do what you can, while you can and knowing when you should let them do things on their own."

A long moment of silence passed between the two as Rarity recovered from her long speech and Spike digested her words.

As the information started to coalesce, he could feel his spirits rise, _I guess she's right. I do a lot for them. I've looked after Fluttershy's animals. I've helped Rarity with her dresses when I can and I AM Twilight's number one assistant. _

He beamed at Rarity, _that's one of the things I love about you Rarity, you're so wise and generous and helpful. Of all the things I wish could last forever, I wish at least you could._

"Oh hohoho, Spike, you're such a flatterer."

_WAIT! I said that out loud?_

"But that is an interesting idea." she said, looking thoughtful, "What if I _could _last forever?"

Spike, wanting to cover his slip up, decided to roll with this line of thinking, "Ye-yeah! What would you do if you could live forever, Rarity?"

"Hhm… Well, for one thing, just imagine it, me, Rarity the unicorn, forever immortalized in the prime of life. I wouldn't have to worry about getting old, the sagging skin, the wrinkly face, the graying mane; none of it would ever blemish my beauty. Even as the mountains crumble and the seas recede, I would still remain perfect and pristine, the very definition of an elegant lady."

All of this, she had said with a far away look in her eyes and a wistful, dreamy quality in her voice, before she came back to the here and now with a more excited expression and tone.

"And that would just be the skin deep advantages!" she said as she put her front hooves on the table and leaned towards Spike. But she suddenly stopped her speech as she realized what she had done and snapped back to a more dignified and well mannered pose.

"Ahem… Honestly, think of what it would mean for my art! I would always be able to make sure that my work would never be forgotten and I would be able to see all the new trends and fashions that the future would bring, and make all new designs! The fashions of 'Carousel Boutique' would never go out of style!"

Rarity finished her speech with a little sigh, easing back into her seat and drinking in her vision until a voice shouted right next to her and Spike.

"Whatcha doin!"

"AAAHHH!" shouted both Spike and Rarity, the former leaping ten feet in the air while the later merely cringed back a bit.

Where there had once been no one, there now floated Pinkie Pie in all her random glory. And she was indeed floating, suspended in the air from several balloons tied around her waist and a huge smile on her face.

Rarity was the first to recover from her fright.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie, you scared me! Must you be so desultory?" she said with a stern frown on her face.

"Well I don't know what that word means but I think Dashie would say I'm, 'Just being Pinkie Pie.'" she said, her spirit not at all dampened by Rarity's disapproving look.

Spike rose from the ground where he had collapsed and attempted to slow his breathing down. He was certain that he had lost several years from his life because of that.

"Pinkie… W-what are you doing floating on… those balloons?" he asked, calming himself down with deep breaths.

"Well I was at home trying to figure out if an upside down cake tastes better downside up or upside down when I thought, 'Hey! I wonder if other foods taste different if you eat them in different places!' So I tried eating cookies in the basement, asparagus in a treehouse, pinecones underwater-" Both Spike and Rarity looked at each other and mouthed the word pinecones to one another. "- and I was just now trying to eat Lucy brand muffins in the sky with Diamond sugar when this weird looking crow came by and popped most of my balloons, and I tell ya, that wasn't very nice of him. I have a mind to go see Fluttershy about this and get her to give that crow a piece of-"

"Okay okay! We get it Pinkie!" interrupted Spike, thinking he had heard enough to get the idea.

Pinkie Pie just smiled at the dragon as Rarity used her magic to untie her from the remaining balloons which floated away on an errant breeze.

"Well you guys know what I was doing now, but what about you two? Rarity was sounding like she did back when she was talking about going to the Gala and meeting Prince Blu-"

Again Pinkie was interrupted but this time it was by Rarity trying to shush her from bringing up her old, broken fantasies.

"W-well we were just discussing the topic of immortality." she said with a weak smile.

A look of confusion crossed Pinkie's face, "Immor-what now?"

Spike shared a similar expression.

Rarity raised an eyebrow and offered, "Perpetuity?"

The look of confusion only deepened.

"Athanasia?" she tried again.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side while Spike's eyes seemed to cross.

Letting out a grunt and with a defeated look on her face, Rarity finally took pity on her vocabulary challenged friends, "Being able to live forever..."

"Ooooohhhh." the two said in unison.

After a second's pause, Pinkie's eyes lit up with true comprehension, "OOOOOHHHHH! What a great idea!"

Spike looked at Pinkie with eager curiosity. "Well what would you do if you could live forever Pi-"

Pinkie abruptly shoved her hoof over Spike's mouth before climbing onto their table and standing on her rear hooves.

Rarity glared at the party pony indignantly. "Now Pinkie Pie! That is very rude to th-"

She was cut off as Pinkie loudly cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

Both Rarity and Spike thought the same thing. _Uh-oh…_

"If I could live forever  
>Think of all the things I'd see<br>I could make a million friends  
>and we'd live happily<p>

Every day would be a party  
>a new variety all the time<br>We'd have cupcakes, punch and oranges  
>Wait, that word won't rhyme<p>

I'd go through my giant list  
>Check off the themes I've planned<br>Look at a few, you'll get the gist  
>Right now I don't have time<p>

So if you-"

The singing mare was suddenly silenced by Spike as he leaped at her, causing the two to fall to the ground, Spikes claws now covering Pinkie's mouth.

During her performance, Pinkie had jumped from table to table, grabbed all the ponies at their own tables in a gigantic hug, produced cupcakes, an entire punch bowl, oranges from seemingly nowhere, and then unfurled what had to be a forty yard long list from her mane which had buried Rarity and the table the three friends had been sitting at in an ocean of paper. Only Spike's dive had prevented anymore shenanigans from happening.

Wadding out of the huge scroll, Rarity attempted to assuage the disrupted diners and reassure the restaurant workers that no more incidents would be occurring.

As everything went back to some semblance of normalcy, the two ponies and dragon sat back down at their table where Pinkie started speaking again, "Oh, just think about it guys! I could create every kind of party imaginable! And all the friends I could make… It would be great!"

Rarity and Spike gave her sheepish smiles, both appreciating her enthusiasm but wishing she could tone it down a little now and then.

Suddenly, a look of realization lit up the pink pony's face, "You know what I think we should do?"

[] [] []

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes for the sixth time that day, to be greeted by the subdued prism of seven colors softly shinning on her face. She once again admired her hoofwork with her ceiling. It had taken almost all of yesterday to get just right, but she had managed to make the top cloud cover of her house just thin enough that the liquid rainbow she had placed on it would filter through with the sunlight and cast a comforting array of colors on her sleeping face.

Yes, she was lazy, (Though personally, she preferred the term allergic to work) even she could admit that, but there were two things that you could consistently find that she worked hard at. One was her tricks and the other was renovating her home. For one thing, clouds were much more flexible, and lighter building materials than anything earth or unicorn ponies could use, so it was easy to reshape the house whenever she wanted. For another, there was something about making the building a new and more impressive design than the last that felt good to her. It was like the feeling she got when she came up with (And managed to complete) a new trick, it was distinctly Rainbow Dash, one of a kind. And as she felt her eyelids slowly close shut again, she thought of how this latest design was her best yet.

Unfortunately for her, a lot of this work was about to be ruined.

*ca-chung* *ca-chung* *ca-chung* *ca-chung*

A single eye on the rainbow pony's face popped open as an inexplicable sense of dread started creeping into her. _What the hay is that noise?_ she thought, trying to quell what she believed was an irrational sense of fear.

The strange noise got louder and louder and was soon joined by a sound that Dash did recognize, the soft poof sound of clouds being dissipated. The pair of sounds were coming from first one direction, then another, then all over her house. It was like they were encircling her, closing in for the kill!

_Well it won't get the drop on me, this… whatever it is!_ she thought as she leaped to all four hooves, eyes darting all over her room.

Suddenly Dash felt herself lifted up as something collided with her stomach. The impact sent her into the ceiling, breaking the thin cloud cover above and allowing the liquid rainbow to come spilling in on her.

As she reflexively started flapping her wings to keep herself airborne, Dash looked to where her bed was to see that it now had a hole in it and below, she could make out a vague pink blob that was growing larger.

"Aha! There you-" came the voice of Pinkie Pie as she zoomed back through the hole she had made in the cloud-bed, only for her to once again recede back towards the ground.

Dash could only flap there and stare in bewilderment at what had just happened. And before she could do anything, the pink pony was back.

"-are Dash! I want-" again she fell back towards the ground and again she came back up. "- to ask you a-" Wash, rinse, repeat. "-question!"

The now completely rainbow Dash had finally gotten over her shock and could feel a boiling rage welling up inside her. As soon as Pinkie returned from her next bounce, she grabbed the pink mare by the shoulders and tossed her on top of one of the only pieces of furniture in her house, her dresser.

The sudden halt of movement caused Pinkie to become dizzy. But when she recovered, the pink pony simply smiled at the fuming pegasus.

Rainbow Dash could now see that the source of Pinkie Pie's bouncing was four springs attached to shoes, which meant that the sound she had heard before had come from them and, if Pinkie Pie had done the same thing to the rest of her house that she had to her bed, there were now many Pinkie sized holes all throughout her home.

Before she could start yelling, the defacer of her property quickly spoke up, "Hey Dashie? How is this dresser staying on top of clouds?"

The answer to this was that certain pegasus ponies were able to imbue some of their cloud walking magic in objects, these pegasi often worked as carpenters, making furniture for their fellow winged ponies. The process for doing this was not entirely known to Rainbow Dash, not having much interest in **why** her furniture could stay in her cloud home, just that it did.

"Magic." she said flippantly before switching to outright rage. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The mare paused with a look of deep contemplation on her face before switching back to a look of blissful ignorance. "Nope."

"AUGH!" Dash groaned, like it was her dying word. "I worked so hard to get the clouds just right for that skylight and now it's ruined and I'm covered in liquid rainbow!"

A look of disgust crossed her face as she finally realized how gunky the liquid made her coat and mane feel.

"Oh yeah Dash, I don't think the whole, completely rainbow thing, is a good look for you. I much prefer your normal blue coat." she looked at the ruined ceiling and the hole she had left in Dash's bed, "And um… sorry about breaking your house, but anyway, about that question I had…" Pinkie said, as if she had nothing to do with Dash's current state of color.

Rainbow Dash could feel the anger rising within her, starting from her rear hooves, up her legs, across her back, through her neck, and then to her brain. It was boiling over and she could feel the explosion of rage about to be set loose!

…Then, in spite of her anger, she just gave up. There was no reasoning with Pinkie and it was probably better that way anyhow. Blowing up at her friends, even when justified, probably wasn't a good idea.

With a resigned sigh, the pegasus sagged to the floor, "Fine… fine… what did you want to ask me?"

A look of surprise passed Pinkie's face, "Oh! Well we should probably head to the ground first so the others can hear your answer too. See you there!"

And with that, the spring hoofed pony calmly walked off the dresser and fell to the ground, spring shoes first.

_Others? Don't tell me everyone else is here! _

Quickly checking through the hole Pinkie just made, Dash could see, to her relief, that there were only Rarity, Pinkie and Spike waiting for her to arrive. But getting seen like this, even by them? She knew Spike wouldn't let her get away without a few jokes at her expense and Rarity would probably get into a huge fuss over how awful she looked.

_Ugh… just get it over with. Go down, answer the question, then you can just come back here and focus on repairing your house and getting this stuff washed out._

And so, Dash flew down to her waiting friends and, as she had guessed, Spike and Rarity reacted exactly the way she thought they would. Rarity stared at her with a look of pure horror on her face and Spike was covering his mouth with his claws in an attempt to keep himself from laughing.

As Spike looked like he was about to say something, Dash cut off anything he was about to say, "One word Spike… Just one word and someday you'll wake up and find yourself stuck on a mountain top in the middle of nowhere."

This comment eliminated all but about twenty-percent of Spike's cheer, leaving him only with a nervous smile on his face.

Seeing that the issue of being heckled was dealt with, Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie and Rarity, "So hurry up, what's this _big_ question you had for me?"

Rarity stuttered out, "R-rainbow Dash! You're mane! Your coat! What hap-"

Once again the pegasus interjected, "Look Rarity, I'm going to deal with it in a bit, but first just tell me the question before I try to fix myself up."

Pinkie spoke up, "We were wondering if you'd ever thought about what you'd do if you could live forever and ever!"

Surprising all of them, Rainbow Dash's demeanor completely changed with the question, "Are you kidding? I think about that all the time!"

"You do?" the other three all asked at once.

Dash turned away from them and walked to the top of the short hill they were on with an expression of wonder and joy, "Of course! Don't you know what that would mean? I could be the best forever! I'd never lose my strength or speed; I would always hold the title of 'Fastest Pony in Equestria'."

She finished this with her bringing a foreleg up and clenching her hoof towards her fetlock, a determined expression on her face

She then whirled around, striking a pose on her rear legs, "The crowds! The fame! The attention! None of it would ever fade. It would be **so** **awesome**!"

She finished with a laugh as Pinkie bounced over to her.

"Wow Dashie. That does sound pretty fantabulous. Of all the ponies I know, I bet you'd be able to handle that kind of life, great. The pressure to always be in top shape…"

Dash nodded at this.

"Everyone always judging everything you do…"

Her expression fell a little.

"The constant challengers for your title…"

She started frowning.

"Having to come up with new tricks all the time…"

She started looking nervous.

"I know that you'd be able to deal with ALL of it forever and ever!"

Rainbow Dash now had a very anxious expression as she felt beads of sweat form on her face, "Y-yeah. I'm always up for a challenge, that kind of life may be too much for **normal** ponies, but you know me."

She ended with an apprehensive chuckle, _Of course I would. I-I'm Rainbow Dash! I can handle anything!_

Shaking off her doubts she asked, "S-so why were you talking about this anyway? What's the deal?"

"Well… Spike and I were simply having a chat about… finding some gems tomorrow." she lied, not wanting to share Spike's worries too openly. "He asked me what I would do if **I** could live forever. Then Pinkie Pie showed up and she told us what she would do and then suggested the brilliant idea of asking all our friends what they'd do, you being the first."

Dash smiled at this, "Hey that does sound like a cool idea. Who should we see next?"

"Who are WE seeing?" said Rarity, shaking her head, "No no no no no, YOU are not seeing anyone until we fix your coat and mane."

The unicorn quickly took charge and started shoving Rainbow Dash in the direction of town. "The first thing we are doing is going to the spa and getting you back to normal and don't worry, I'll pay for it myself. A matching mane and coat is _so_ tacky, I mean the very idea of them being the same color…"

[] [] []

*plip* *clink* "I win again!"

Spike sighed, that was the thirty fifth time in a row too.

He and Pinkie Pie were currently waiting outside the spa, 'Healing Waters', for Rarity and Rainbow Dash to come out. Dash had laid out some ground rules before getting there, such as them only coming to get the liquid rainbow out of her fur and Rarity not trying to "pretty her up". Yet despite this, they had been waiting for almost an hour now and had turned to playing tiddlywinks to pass the time.

They _would_ be inside, except Pinkie Pie wasn't allowed in ever since Aloe had a nervous breakdown after trying to get her mane straight for two whole hours. So, Spike had decided to stay outside and keep her company. They didn't have a dragon course anyway.

"I still don't know how you're so good at this." Spike mumbled as he retrieved the winks. "Best out of seventy one?"

"There's our perp now!" Spike froze at the sound of the scratchy voice.

"What does 'perp' mean again?" came a southern accent.

"'The Detective Book For Little Foals' says, 'perp is a shortened slang term for perpetrator, which means-" a squeaky voice attempted to answer.

"Stop reading from that thing all the time, we have a criminal to catch!" The scratchy voice interrupted, attempting to get the others back on track.

Spike slowly turned around and there, a couple yards away, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Now, however, they looked more like the Cutie Mark Crime Busters. Scootaloo was adorned in a plaid deerstalker hat and cape, Sweetie Belle now had a gray trench coat to go with her fedora, and Applebloom had on a pair of round glasses, a red bowtie and a blue suit.

"Oh no. I forgot about THEM!" yelled Spike as the Crusaders pulled out nightsticks and hoofcuffs before Applebloom shouted.

"Yer under arrest! Cease and desist!"

"Oh oh! Are you guys playing 'cops and robbers'? I love that game!" said Pinkie, as Spike leaped to his feet and ran like his life depended on it with the Crusaders giving chase.

Pinkie simply waved to the dragon as he left.

"Have fun Spike!" a look of nostalgia came to her face, "I remember how me and my sisters used to play that game all the time."

Jut then, the door to the spa opened and Rainbow Dash stepped out. Her coat, which had recently been the same blend of colors as her mane, was now back to its normal shade of blue but her mane and tail…

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you look simply darling." said Rarity as she appeared behind the agitated pegasus.

Dash's mane and tail looked expertly coifed, more so than anyone ever normally saw them. On the other hoof though, they were now adorned with several ribbons colored the same seven colors as her mane and tied to their corresponding hues.

.

Pinkie attempted to hold back a giggle but it only came out as a snort. "Heheheh, I guess Rainbow Dash always dresses in style."

"Rarity… I thought we agreed before going in that you weren't going to do anything to froufrou me up." she said with a voice of resignation.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, I didn't have any hoof in this. You said**I **couldn't do anything to make you…" Rarity huffed, "'_froufrou', _but I don't have any control over what Aloe and Lotus decide to do themselves."

_Sure you don't. _Dash thought before noticing Spike's absence.

"Hey Pinkie Pie, where's Spike?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, he and the Crusaders decided to play 'cops and robbers', so he had to leave. Those little rascals." Pinkie said with a smile.

"Ooooookay. I'll just go with that." Dash said, deciding to just accept her explanation.

"So as I was saying a long time ago…" the pegasus gave a pointed look at Rarity. "Who should we see next?"

"Well, how bout we go see Applejack? Isn't she usually finishing up at the market by now?" answered Pinkie.

"Great. Let me just get these things out of my hair and…"

Dash turned her head towards her tail, about to remove the offending ribbons from it, when she saw the look on Rarity's face. The unicorn had made her eyes very wide, a bit of moisture collecting near the bottom of them, and her lower lip was quivering.

Dash sighed, "Fine! Fine. I'll wear the stupid ribbons."

Rarity's expression immediately brightened.

"But only for today, and you owe me a favor for this."

And so the three ponies set off for the market, leaving just before a certain dragon came running back in front of the spa.

Spike looked around frantically, wondering where Pinkie had gone. "Pinkie? Guys? Can I get some help pl-"

"Stop in the name of the law!" came the voice of his pursuers.

"Heeeeeeellllllllllp!" he shouted as the chase continued.

[] [] []

As the three friends made their way through the market, the sun began to sink towards the edge of the sky, signaling the day's end. Many of the vendors were already gone and only a few were still packing up their things, but as far as they could see, Applejack wasn't one of them.

"Aw man, don't tell me we missed her?" said Rainbow Dash, not looking forward to heading all the way out to the earth pony's farm just to ask her a question.

"Are you looking for Miss Apple?"

The three turned to see Roseluck, a rose red and pink maned earth pony with a cream coat that ran a flower stand with two ponies named Daisy and Lily.

"I believe she took her cart behind the comic book store. Perhaps you could help the poor mare? She seemed to be really troubled with something when I last saw her." she said helpfully.

"Oh, well thank you very much." said Rarity.

But as they turned to head for the back of the comic book store, Roseluck spoke up again, "Um… You wouldn't happen to know where Spike is, would you?"

"Well he was with us a while ago but apparently he went off to play games or something. Why?" Dash asked, interested to know why she, of all ponies, wanted to see Spike.

Roseluck nervously rubbed a leg with her fetlock, "Oh! Nothing, nothing at all. Just… It's not important."

"Oh please? We could easily boost our sales by at least adding them as complimentary gifts!"

"No no no! Putting those yucky colored herbs with our flowers would mess up the feng shui of the display!"

Roseluck quickly glanced back at her fellow store owners who were evidently having a heated debate.

"Would you look at that? Can't leave those two alone for a minute. Very sorry, but you'll have to excuse me!" she hurriedly gushed out before running off to mediate her two friends.

Rarity and Dash looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Dash spoke slowly, "Well that was suspicious."

"Oh don't worry about it for now, I'll figure out what's going on later." Rarity assured as they all went to find Applejack.

And there she was, just as Roseluck said. And she did indeed look troubled as she stared intently at a few sheets of paper on her cart, mumbling to herself.

"Hey there, Applejack!" greeted Pinkie.

"Huh?" the farmer's head shot up, looking around before noticing them. "Oh hey ya'll, it's just you. What can I do for ya?"

"I think a more appropriate question would be, what can we do for you, dear?" asked Rarity, with a look of concern on her face. "You seemed to be engrossed in that piece of paper."

"Oh." upon them being mentioned, Applejack went back to looking at said papers. "If you'll just give me a sec then ah'll tell ya."

Picking up a pencil in her mouth, she wrote down a few numbers before slamming her hooves down onto her cart and shouting triumphantly, "Yeehaw! All squared away like eggs in a basket."

As she turned to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, she finally noticed the bows the latter had in her mane and tail and let out a laugh, "Gee, I guess Rainbow Dash always dresses in style."

"Why does everypony keep saying that?" the pegasus demanded. "Ugh, and Rarity, I take it back, you don't owe me a favor, you owe me a HUGE favor."

Applejack said nothing for a moment before she raised a hoof to her chin with a questioning look, "Don't know… not even sure why ah said that myself. But anyway, what ah was doing here is ah wanted to show Big Macintosh that I can deal with the complicated math of our business just like he does, so I stayed after late today so I could do it all by mahself.

The self-satisfied mare gave a chuckle. "And ah just finished it right now. Hoho! Wait until Big Macintosh sees what-"

"Hey Applejack? I think you forgot to carry your one here." Pinkie Pie said, interrupting the farm pony.

Pinkie pointed to a spot on one of the papers.

"Whut?" Applejack said as she zipped over to look at where the pink pony was pointing, with a horrified expression. "What… but… ah did that at the start and…"

She quickly looked over her math to see that the mare was right.

"I… but…. awwww, hayseed." she said as she dropped her head onto her cart with a loud thunk.

Pinkie wrapped a leg around Applejack's shoulders, attempting to console the depressed mare, "Aww, don't worry about it AJ, I'm sure you'll get it next time. But for now, we have an important question to ask!"

Applejack sighed before lifting her head.

"What can I do ya for, then?" she smiled, hoping that whatever the question was, it would raise her spirits a bit.

Rarity decided to answer, "What would you say to being able to live forever?"

The orange pony stared at her for a moment, then looked at Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie Pie before sighing as a deep frown grew on her face, "I wouldn't want to wish that fate on nopony."

"What?" shouted the others in surprise.

They waited a moment for her to respond but Applejack just laid her head on her hooves with a sad look on her face.

"But who **wouldn't** want to live forever?" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Ah wouldn't, that's who." the farmer said simply.

"But why?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Cause I couldn't bear the thought of having to watch every person I know and love, pass away while ah stay alive." she said with finality.

The others fell into a shocked silence at this revelation, and Applejack used it to explain further.

"Ya'll know that my Ma and Pa, ain't around anymore, but none of ya were there the day of their funeral." A glassy look came over her eyes from the memory. "Ah can still remember the look on my Granny's face afterwards, she looked sadder than a withered apple tree, like she'd never be happy again."

Tears started forming in her eyes, "It's bad enough having to bury yer kin. It's a thousand times worse when they're supposed to outlive ya. Why do you think ah'm so protective of Applebloom? Ah can't bear the thought of having to do the same for her that Granny had to do fer Ma and Pa."

She fell silent after this and for a minute, no one said anything as they contemplated her words.

Rainbow Dash however, could feel a sense of indignation welling up inside her, _it can't be as bad as all that._ This was one of her fantasies, she'd thought about this since she was little, and she refused to accept such a glaring flaw in it.

"I don't believe it!' Dash blurted out without realizing what she was saying.

The others gasped at what they saw as just insensitivity towards a deep issue.

Applejack recovered quickly and immediately grew angry. "Rainbow Dash! Ah can't believe you! Are you sayin' I don't know what ah'm talking about? Could you really bear to have to see everyone you know pass away?"

Though Dash hadn't meant to say what she did out loud, she also wasn't one to back down, "N-no! I just don't think it's nearly as bad as you made it out to be. There's gotta be a lot more good things than bad!"

Looking for support, she turned to Rarity, "C'mon Rarity, what was it you told Spike? What do you think it would be like to live forever?"

Rarity though, just closed her eyes and turned her head, "No no no, I can see where this is going. If you two are going to get into one of your quarrels then I desire no part of it."

So Dash turned to Pinkie, "Come on Pinkie Pie! What do you think about living forever?"

The pink mare had a pensive look on her face as her eyes darted between her two friends.

"Ooooohhhhh… I'm sorry Applejack, but I still think it would be really great to be able to make so many friends." she said while pawing at the ground with a hoof.

Dash looked at Applejack with an expression of superiority, her confidence being boosted by Pinkie's answer.

Applejack sputtered, "Well… I… Ah say we get another's opinion on this! I assume you haven't asked Twilight or Fluttershy yet?"

Dash glared at Applejack resolutely. "Nope. We were going to see them after you."

'Well then, that settles it. We'll just find one of them and ask them what they think." Applejack said with a matching glare.

"Oh, well I think it would be-"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in terror at the unexpected voice.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!" squeaked Fluttershy back at them.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" they screamed again, Pinkie and Rarity joining in with them.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!" Fluttershy repeated before suddenly disappearing from sight.

It took a moment for the four startled ponies to recover, but when they did Pinkie started laughing.

"Hahahahahahaha! Oooooo! She got us good! That was a great scare, Fluttershy!" she said, delighted that their shy friend had managed to get the drop on them.

Looking around, Rarity spotted the timid pegasus hiding under Applejack's cart and knelt down beside it.

"Now now, dear, it's okay. I'm sorry we reacted like that but we didn't even notice you were here." she said soothingly.

The yellow pony slowly crawled out from under the cart, though she seemed to trade the apple stand for her hair as a way to hide by using it to cover half of her face.

"Oh… T-that's fine. I understand that I can be a little quiet from time to time." she said softly.

"Well what were you doin' out so late anyway?" questioned Applejack.

"Oh, well, somepony's poor pet iguana was really sick with a bad tummy ache so they asked me to come over and see if I could make him feel better. I only just got him well enough to be able to go home when I saw all of you talking so I came over to say hi." she said, the topic of animals restoring her confidence, as much as there was anyway.

Being reminded of what they had been arguing about, Rainbow Dash immediately questioned the shy pony.

"So you were going to tell us what you think about being able to live forever?" she asked excitedly, both her and Applejack staring at Fluttershy intently.

"No no, that's fine. I-I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear what I have to say about it." she said evasively, not liking the attention.

Rarity placed a reassuring hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, "It's okay dear. We're all friends here. No matter what your answer is, we won't think any less of you."

Her confidence, once again, restored she decided to answer, "Oh… well…okay then. Actually, I think that would be…"

The others were silent as they waited for her to finish.

"Wonderful." she ended with a small smile.

"Really?" said Applejack, curious as to why the mare that shied away from anything new would be okay with the idea.

"Oh, yes." answered Fluttershy, a serene expression on her face, "Just think of all the cute little animals I'd be able to help. I always hate thinking about what's going to happen to them all when I'm gone one day but if I could live forever then I'd always be there for them."

Rainbow Dash looked surprised, "Really? Even though you'd have to see them all die?"

Rarity and Applejack glared at Dash for her bluntness, but she just shrugged sheepishly, "What? I'm sorry, but it's true. Remember how upset she got the time the Princess's pet exploded?"

Fluttershy's happy smile turned to a sad one, "Well yes, there is that, b-but I always have to deal with that. Well, not the exploding part anyway. And it does hurt whenever I see one of my little friends pass away, but I understand that it's just what's going to happen eventually. I just want them to d- pass on because it's their time, not because of an injury or exploding. I just want them to live happily for as long as they can."

She forced a stronger smile on her face, "And besides, I know that once they've gone that they're actually in a happier place, so… so it's not all bad."

Dash turned on Applejack with a smug grin, "Ha! See? We're three for one in **my** favor."

Though Applejack could see what Fluttershy was talking about with how their loved ones were in a better place, she wasn't willing to back down just yet.

"Now hold on there Rainbow. We still haven't asked Twilight what she thinks about all this. And ah bet that her being so smart means she'll be able to give us an impartial view that'll mean more than any of our own." she reasoned.

Rainbow Dash took up her challenge, "Fine then, we were going to head there anyway, now we just have more of a reason to do it, let's go!"

Before she could dash off, Applejack grabbed the impetuous pegasus by the tail with her mouth.

"Nnw hld on trre," she spat the tail out when Dash stopped trying to fly off.

"Some of us have stuff we need to take with us." she stated as she got into her harness to push her cart to the library.

Rainbow Dash groaned," Fine fine! Let's just hurry!"

[] [] []

Twilight sighed to herself as she took a long sip of her warm tea, thanking Owlowiscious for pouring it for her as he returned to his perch. It had been a long but rewarding day for her and soon all her hard work would be finished.

About two weeks ago, Princess Celestia had sent Twilight a box of some of her old things that had apparently been misplaced by her when she had moved to Ponyville. Among them was an old report Twilight had given to the princess when she was younger and still lived in Canterlot. Seeing the old pieces of paper had brought a wave of memories to the librarian.

One day, Twilight had been asked by Princess Celestia to give a mock presentation on dragons, with Celestia and Spike as her audience. Dutifully, Twilight had studied hard to please her mentor and had written a rather lengthy report to give to her. But, though she had been full of excitement and joy just before giving her speech, as soon as she had stood up in front of her audience of two, she lost all her wits.

For several minutes she had flailed around with her notes and stuttered out incomprehensible sentences, all the while getting more and more flustered over the situation. But when she had finally lost all hope and told her mentor that she just couldn't do it, Celestia explained to Twilight that she had asked her to do this to see how she would deal with the pressure of speaking to people and try to teach her that, so long as you didn't get overly stressed about it, it could be done as easily as talking to a dear friend.

After telling her this, Celestia had given her some pointers on public speaking and had then asked her to try again. And this time, she started and ended her speech without a single stutter.

But after she came back to the present, Twilight had re-read her presentation and found herself dissatisfied with it. There was so much more she could have gone over, the peace treaty with the Chromatic Dragon Clan, the tales of the young dragon Flicker who had been squire to the hero Taurus, the dragon smith Gorbashthat was said to have forged Princess Celestia's regalia… so many things she hadn't covered!

And then she had thought about all the other creatures in the world and all the myths and tales and knowledge of them that wasn't in any single book Twilight had ever found. So she began to think how **she** could make that single book.

And so she had set out to go over all the tomes she had access to and compile all the information about all the creatures in the world in one book! It had been very hard work, with many sleepless nights and long hours of combing through books, but it would soon all be worth it.

Sure, it had been a bit harder for her today since she gave Spike the day off. He had been looking terribly tired and had actually not complained about the heavy work load the entire time, so she decided to let him take the day off for himself while she finished up.

Thankfully, she now had Owlowiscious to help her since the sun had set, so finding the right books for each creature had become much quicker and easier.

She had just finished the segment for the Yacumama when she heard a polite knocking at the door downstairs, followed by a loud whump.

"No, it's okay Owlowiscious, I'll get it myself." she said before the owl could take flight for the door.

_That knock sounded like Rarity's but what was up with that noise?_ she thought as she came down the stairs.

Upon getting closer to the door, she began to hear muffled voices, which became clear upon opening it.

"- refuse to allow such rudeness!" admonished Rarity, who had been splayed out on the door, apparently trying to holding back the wave of her other friends who were attempting to get inside.

However, as soon as Twilight opened the door, the white unicorn fell down and was trampled by the others as they barged in, save Fluttershy, who gingerly stepped over the fallen mare.

Twilight now found herself beset by a cacophony of voices, each trying to vie for her attention, eventually even Rarity joining in, though she was yelling at Pinkie, Dash and Applejack instead of Twilight.

As their voices grew louder and more incomprehensible, Twilight closed her eyes as she felt a headache forming in her head, a single phrase repeating from within. _Make them quiet, make them quiet, make them quiet, MAKE THEM QUIET!_

With that last repetition, Twilight let loose a spell and the room instantly lost the sounds of the quarreling ponies. As she opened her eyes, she could see all four of them still arguing. What she had just done was use a mute spell that caused her to not hear any sounds from certain targets, in this case, Rarity, Pinkie, Dash, and Applejack.

As the headache receded, Twilight turned to the only pony that was, in a natural state of quiet in the room, Fluttershy.

"Okay, think you could tell me what's going on here?" Twilight asked in an irritated tone.

"Um… well, I don't know all the details but…"

And so Fluttershy explained to the best of her ability about how everyone had been asked what they'd do if they could live forever, and how Rainbow Dash and Applejack had gotten into an argument over who truly understood the concept.

After processing her words, Twilight turned back to the rest of her friends to see that now only Pinkie was speaking, and she had also produced several items from nowhere, like a cheese grater, megaphone, and an Apple Drop's cradle, apparently using them to illustrate her point. Removing the mute spell, Twilight only picked up on the last line.

"-he said, 'A cleaver?' Are you nuts!'"

The others seemed just as confused as Twilight was.

The unicorn simply shook her head and took charge of the situation.

"Okay girls! Listen up." she said as everyone returned their attention to her. "If we're going to do this, then we're going to do it properly. I want everyone to find a seat and be quiet while I answer your question."

Doing as the librarian said, everyone got themselves comfortable on the floor as Twilight pulled out a podium from her closet and stood in front of it to speak.

"Ahem. Now then, as to the question all of you have for me." she said, slowly moving her gaze across all of her friends.

Her stern expression vanished in an instant and she smiled brightly, "I think that would be fantastic!"

Applejack's ears drooped as she sighed, refusing to look at Rainbow Dash to see the smug grin she knew was there.

Twilight continued, "Just think about all the things I could see and all the knowledge I could gain. I mean, even if I did nothing but study from now until the day I die, I still wouldn't have enough time to learn all the things about the world I want to.

"But if I could live forever… then I could spend more time with everypony. I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to learn all the things I want to. I could slow down and take my time, because I'd have all the time in the world."

Applejack spoke up, "But Twi, what about having to see everypony else around you pass away?"

"Oh come on AJ!" said Dash irritably, "Just admit that it's not as bad as you thought it was."

Unfortunately, this caused the argument from before to start right where it had left off and the library was again filled with the sounds of bickering ponies.

Fluttershy cringed in a corner of the room as she watched the argument intensify. She wished there was some way to get them to just stop, some way to get everyone to feel satisfied about all of this.

As she cast her eyes about for inspiration, they landed on the table in the center of the room where a scroll with the royal insignia on it was placed and she realized the solution to the problem.

"Um… everypony?" she said meekly.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie continued their arguing, not even noticing her. It also seemed that Twilight had used the spell from before and she currently had her head face down on the podium in front of her, apparently having given up trying to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, Rarity appeared to be more concerned with getting her mane back to normal after the others had galloped all over her.

So she tried again, a little louder this time, "Um… girls?"

Again, there was no reaction from them.

Shuffling her hooves pensively, she glanced around and saw the megaphone Pinkie had been using earlier and picked it up.

_Hopefully I can use this to make myself louder, _she thought as she fiddled around, trying to get it to turn on.

However, suddenly the megaphone let out a long, piercing scree noise that caused everpony in the room to fold their ears to their skulls in pain.

As the startled pegasus dropped the offending object, everyone looked at her with either confusion or irritation, but at least it got their attention.

"Oh… um… I'm sorry everypony, that was my fault, I'm very sorry but I just wanted to say that I think I know how we can figure out who's right about this." she said hopefully.

Rarity intercepted Applejack and Rainbow Dash before they could crowd the shy pony and, after giving them a stern look, she said, "And what would that be dear?"

"Well…" she glanced at the floor. "We could ask someone that actually knows what it's like, Princess Celestia."

Everypony stared at each other, realizing the perfectness of the idea. It was so obvious, get the answer straight from the horse's mouth.

However, as most of them started happily agreeing that this was the perfect solution, Twilight spoke out.

"Uh uh! No way! We are not bothering Princess Celestia with something so trivial!" she declared as she stomped her hooves with finality.

"Aw, but c'mon Twilight! This would be really easy. Just write a letter and send it away, she writes her own and sends it back, easy peasy." Dash whined, trying to convince her.

"Do you have any idea all the things royalty has to deal with every day Dash?" Twilight said accusingly, "The meetings, holding court, attending events, dealing with taxes. Taxes, Rainbow Dash! Taxes! I don't want to bother her with our nonsense."

"But Twilight, you already send her yer friendship reports almost every week. What's one more letter gonna hurt?" Applejack pointed out.

Rarity offered her own wisdom, "And besides, don't you always say that we should attempt to seek out knowledge to better ourselves? Isn't finding out what it's like to be immortal simply a means of educating ourselves?"

Twilight could feel herself getting pressured by all their arguments, but she still didn't want to bother her mentor with something so trivial and perhaps even personal. So she tried coming up with a reason to stall them and hoped they'd all just forgot about it.

"Well we can't anyway! I always send my letters to her by dragon flame and, as you can clearly see, Spike isn't here right now and it's late so you all should just go-"

As if in answer to this declaration, the door to the library flew open and the aforementioned baby dragon rushed in, slamming it closed behind him. He was panting like he had just sprinted through the entire 'Running of The Leaves' and he had, what appeared to be, some hoofcuffs clasped on his left foot.

"Fina…ly… lost… them… so tired…. need water!" he wheezed as he slunk to the floor.

As the others turned to Twilight with complacent smiles on their faces from her last excuse fading out of existence, the purple mare finally relented.

"UGH! Fine! But everypony is writing this in their own words. If she gets upset then I want the blame to be shared." she conditioned.

And so, as Spike dragged himself to the kitchen to get some water, the six ponies all got quills and paper and began writing out their own letters to the Princess, asking her what it was like to be immortal and what they themselves thought it must be like.

They all finished their letters in about twenty minutes, giving Spike enough time to recover from his ordeal. Twilight rolled them all together and tied them with the official red ribbon and seal of Equestria before giving it to Spike. The young dragon opened a window and breathed his magic flame, whisking the scrolls away to Canterlot.

For a moment they all simply stared out the window at the night sky, wondering what answer their Princess would give them before Twilight started shoving them out the door.

"Well, as you can see, it's very late and I highly doubt the Princess will be sending us a reply tonight, so just come back tomorrow and we'll see how badly we've been punished."

As she slammed the door shut, locking it for extra measure, Twilight gave a long and deep sigh and trotted up the stairs.

She sat back down at her desk, Owlowiscious handing her a freshly inked quill and a piece of paper, as she attempted to start working on her monster compilation again.

Looking over her notes for a moment, she began writing.

Yatagarasu: The Yatagarasu is a three legged crow that's said to be a bird of the sun itself, though history-

The mare put a hoof to her forehead, _This isn't working, my heart's just not in this right now. I'm too worried about what Celestia is going to think about our letters._

With a sigh, she put away her quill and ink, before turning to her nocturnal assistant, "I'm sorry Owlowiscious, but I don't think I'm going to be getting through this tonight. Do you think you could clean up a bit for me?"

The owl simply hooted in response and began organizing the mess of papers and books that her desk had become so it would be straightened and ready for her tomorrow.

Twilight slowly climbed the last set of stairs to her bed before flopping down on the mattress and covering herself with a blanket, attempting to get to sleep.

[] [] []

Dash thought of nothing as she flew through the night sky, she simply let herself exist, let all her thoughts go and fly away with the wind in her mane. So long as she was in the sky and flying, nothing could touch her, in body or in mind. However, once she reached home, her sense of peace left her. She was reminded of how she had a lot of work ahead tomorrow when she'd have to rebuild parts of her home and get that liquid rainbow skylight back in place, but for now, she just wanted to get some sleep.

Knowing that her cloud bed had been poofed away, she settled for just laying out on the floor, a cloud, regardless of design, was very comfortable. But though she felt exhausted as she laid down, the moment she closed her eyes to sleep, thoughts of the day came unbidden to her mind. She remembered what Pinkie had said about the pressure, the challengers, the attention… could she handle it forever? She tried to convince herself that she could, but there was still that seed of doubt in her mind.

But what really bothered her was what Applejack had said. _"Could you really bear to have to see everyone you know pass away?" _Despite the earlier confidence she had gained from what everyone else had said, now that she was alone her insecurities were resurfacing.

She opened her eyes and stood up. Slowly trotting to her dresser, she opened the bottom drawer and rummaged through her various Wonderbolt paraphernalia until she found what she was looking for. Taking the picture out, she laid back down on the floor and held it to the moonlight.

On the faded photograph was a pegasus stallion. He had a dark blue coat and a yellow mane, his muzzle was adorned with a rugged moustache and he wore a pair of goggles over his eyes. Most knew him by his stage name, 'The Blue Baron' but true fans of the Wonderbolts knew him for his real name, Wonderbolt, **the** Wonderbolt. The best flier to have ever lived and the founder of the greatest flying team in Equestria.

Looking at the photo always helped Dash calm down. Whenever she was unsure about things, she thought about what 'The Blue Baron' would do and it would give her courage to face the odds. But this time, though it helped, there were still doubts in her head.

_Could you have been able to bear having to lose all your wingmen? If you hadn't died, could you have stayed great forever?_ It was with these thoughts that Dash slowly closed her eyes and finally went to sleep.

[] [] []

After being shoved outside the library, Fluttershy had slowly made her way to her cottage by the forest. As walked back, she thought about what she had told everypony else about what she thought about immortality. She was actually quite proud of herself for being so confident then, but now, in the gloomy darkness, she was starting to, as she often did, become scared.

It truly was something she worried about a lot, not immortality, but the fact that she wasn't immortal. What was going to happen to all the animals when she was gone? Who would count all the baby bunnies in the spring? Who would wake all the hibernating animals at Winter Wrap Up carefully and quietly? Who would help the injured creatures of the forest? Who would-

She lost this train of thought as she realized that she had made it back home and had been standing in front of her door for five minutes.

Sighing despondently, the mare opened the door to be greeted by several of her animal friends crowding around her in happiness at her return home. She forced a pained smile on her face as she attempted to give all of them the attention they deserved before a loud whistle shrilled out.

Angel stepped between Fluttershy and the animals with a commanding posture as he shoed them away from their caretaker, making it clear that he wanted no nonsense from them.

Once they had all returned to their little homes, Angel then ushered the pegasus up the flight of stairs and into her room, demanding through pantomime that she go straight to bed.

Fluttershy obliged the rabbit who proceeded to bring her warm soup and tea in bed and turned on one of her favorite songs on a record player. The yellow pony's heart melted at this display of affection and once she had finished her dinner, she fell into a deep sleep.

As she closed her eyes, Angel gave a humph of satisfaction before turning out the lights and closing her door.

[] [] []

At Carousel Boutique, Rarity had just finished removing her makeup. She stared into the face that looked back at her from her mirror. Beautiful, elegant, perfect. She looked the very definition of a proper lady, but she knew that time wouldn't allow her to always be that way.

Turning from the mirror, she shoved those thoughts aside, reminding herself of what her father told her. _"The true sign of a lady, is not in how she looks but in how she acts and treats others."_ And so, that was that. She did not allow herself to think another moment on her beauty.

Instead her thoughts turned to less vain matters as she set about preparing her store for the next day. What Pinkie had said to Rainbow Dash had also touched her in a way. Even though she wasn't immortal, there was still the threat that she could someday lose her inspiration for new dresses. The fashion world was a critical place where the slightest hint of weakness in design could spell disaster. Would she be able to keep up with such demands forever?

Her thoughts turned once more, but to something she found much more important, as she heard the bell to her shop ring and the sound of little hooves enter.

Rarity looked to the door and saw her little sister walk in hesitantly. She was wearing a trench coat and fedora and carrying a suit and cape on her back, all were covered in tree sap. Sweetie Belle quietly apologized for taking the costumes she had made without her permission but Rarity just smiled and laughed it off, assuring her that it was fine but also insisting that they get her cleaned up for bed.

Later, as the two were in the bathroom, Sweetie Belle in the tub while Rarity scrubbed her with a brush, the elder sister asked if her younger sibling had had a fun day with her friends. As the little unicorn related the day's adventures, Rarity listened with rapt attention.

[] [] []

Applejack slowly opened the door to her house after stowing her apple stall in the barn, not wanting to wake anypony up. As she crept into her room, she removed the ties for her mane and tail before placing her hat on her bed post.

But before she could get under the covers, she noticed the picture on her bedside table. It showed a happy, smiling family of two adults, an elderly mare, two young foals and a baby. Staring at the photo, Fluttershy's words drifted back into her thoughts about how the important thing is being there to look after those you care about while they're still with you.

The farmer turned back to her door and walked out into the hallway, she slowly and quietly opened the door to the room next to hers. Though the inside was dark, she could make out the large form of Macintosh sleeping in his bed, his work collar on the table next to him. Shutting the door, she went on to the next room down the hall. Here she could see by the light of the moon that Applebloom was also sleeping soundly in bed, the little filly's smile bringing one to Applejack's as well.

Finally, Applejack came to the last door in the hall and noticed the light of a candle peeking out from under it. Opening the door allowed her to find her granny, uncharacteristically awake. The old mare was sitting on her bed and had a worn photo album open in her lap. As the elderly pony looked up to her granddaughter, she smiled. Applejack returned the expression and came in to sit next to her grandmother, joining her in looking at the memories.

[] [] []

Pinkie Pie went home without a worry in her head. As she came back to Sugarcube Corner, she did as she always did each night. She said goodnight to the Cakes, played with Gummy, had a small snack of five cupcakes, and went to bed.

It was her policy to live in the moment and not worry about the future. Life is a party and there's simply too much fun to be had to spend it worrying about stuff. Sure she was eager to hear her answer, but regardless of what the princess said in her letter tomorrow, she would rest well and in comfort because her family was well, her friends were still with her, and tomorrow was another day.

And so, she dreamed of a world of endless parties, one where she and her friends and family had fun all the time and the land was made of candy.

[] [] []

Back at the library though, Twilight found herself still unable to sleep, she had been trying for what had to be an hour and just as she was about to resort to counting sheep, she heard footsteps approach her bed.

"Hey, Twilight?"

She turned over to look at Spike, "What is it? It's unlike you to be up so late."

The baby dragon looked embarrassed and unsure; he also seemed to be holding something behind his back and was shuffling his feet uneasily.

"Do you…. do you think…" he appeared to struggle with himself to find his words. "Do you think I could sleep with you tonight?"

The unicorn was surprised. Back when Spike was much smaller, he had from time to time slept in the same bed with her, but when he had reached a certain age he had insisted that such an activity was far to touchy feely for him anymore and had from then on slept in his own basket.

Seeing that he was concerned about something though, Twilight didn't bring this fact up, "Sure Spike."

As the dragon hopped into the bed, facing away from her, Twilight draped the blanket over them both and waited for him to explain why he had asked to do this. After about a minute, he reached around with an arm and showed her what he had been holding.

"Could you read paragraph five?" he asked quietly.

Through the light of the moon, Twilight could see that it was a page from her old dragon report. Wondering why he was bringing this up, she began to read the paragraph he had asked her to.

Though no ponies have an exact figure of the longevity of dragons, it is believed that they can live to be at least fifteen hundred years old thanks to communications with the noble dragon Belial, from the year-

As she read the text Twilight didn't understand what he meant by asking her to read this but then it dawned on her what he was trying to talk about.

"Oh, Spike…" she said as she tenderly wrapped him in her fore hooves, the baby dragon offering no protest.

He spoke, with a trembling voice, "I was thinking about all the talk about immor- living forever, and… it just hit me, ya know? I mean… I won't live forever but…"

He fell silent and sniffed a little as Twilight tried to think of something she could say to comfort him, _Oh… I wish this had happened after Princess Celestia's letter came. I don't know what the right thing to tell him about this is._

However, she could see that Spike needed comforting right now, so even if it wasn't perfect, she'd have to try to say something to make him feel better.

"Spike…" she hesitated, searching for the right words, "Despite all the studying I do, and the things I've learned, there is still a lot I don't know or understand about the world. One of those things is the experience of seeing one of my friends… die.

"But, what I think I know about this is that it doesn't matter that your life will be far longer than mine or the rest of our friends. Do you know why?"

Receiving no answer, only the sound of the baby dragon's breathing next to her, she continued on.

"Because, as mushy as it sounds," she said, trying to insert some humor, "so long as you live on, so will we. I think that even though our bodies may fade away, so long as you keep the memories of us in your heart, you'll never truly be alone.

"You'll be able to tell all the people that come after us about all the adventures you went on with your dearest friends and the lessons you learned from them, and then the memories of us will be in them as well. And even though it may take a long time, you'll someday get to meet all of us again, I'm sure of it."

She laughed a little, "And besides Spike, that day isn't going to come for a long long time. We still have many more memories to make right now, so please try to be happy with the-"

She stopped speaking as she noticed the dragon softly snoring.

Twilight sighed. _I guess he didn't hear any of that…__Well… I suppose the important thing is that he was able to get to sleep, _she thought as she kissed his head and found herself slip into the whispers of sleep.

[] [] []

Twilight awoke the next morning to the smell of food coming from the first floor. She noticed Spike missing from her fore legs and assumed that he was the creator of the delightful aroma.

The sleepy unicorn got out of bed and, wrapping her blanket around herself, went about the process of reigning in her bed mane like she did every morning. Once that was done, she clopped down the stairs, taking a moment to quietly thank the now sleeping Owlowiscious for all his hard work last night, and headed for the kitchen to see what was being made.

She found her assistant wearing an apron and happily humming a song to himself as he flipped pancakes, a tall tower already standing on a plate next to him.

"Ooohh, those look delicious Spike." Twilight said hungrily.

Spike flipped his latest pancake onto the pile and turned to the mare with a beaming smile on his face. "Twilight!"

The librarian suddenly found herself being seated at the kitchen table as Spike tied a napkin around her neck before zipping off and back, placing the pillar of pancakes, a cup of sweet tea, pitcher of syrup, and a vase of flowers before her. He then went back to making more pancakes.

"Wow, Spike. This was really nice of you. What's the occasion?" Twilight asked as she started happily eating.

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to do something nice for ya is all." he said, not turning from his work.

Twilight simply accepted this for now as she was distracted by how good the food was.

For a while there were only the sounds of the sizzling of flapjacks and the chewing of food. The time allowed Twilight to slowly remember the events of last night and she felt some of the worry she had the night before, return.

_I really hope this doesn't bother the Princess too much… I guess it is just one letter, it should be alright. Right?_

Her stewing was interrupted by a knock from the door. Twilight started to get up to answer it but Spike quickly shouted, "I'll get it!" before rushing out the kitchen.

As she returned to her food, she suddenly found something warm pressed up against the side of her neck.

"And Twilight? Thanks." with that, Spike rushed back out of the kitchen, leaving a blushing unicorn behind him.

_Right._

As she finished off her meal with the flowers, delighted to find they were her favorite, Twilight perked her ears up to hear who was at the door.

"Who is it?"

*creak*

"Hi Spike! I was just wondering if the Princess's letter had come yet!"

"I'm sorry Pinkie Pie, but I haven't felt even a gurgle in my tummy all morning."

"Aww… Well… Okay, I'll just come back later. Bye!"

*clunk*

Spike came back into the kitchen, but before he could return to finishing his own pancakes, there was another knock at the door and again, he went to get it.

*creak*

"Yes?"

"Hi Spike, it's me again. So it's later and I was wondering if the letter had arrived now."

She could hear him sigh.

"No Pinkie Pie."

"Okay then."

*clunk*

She could hear the sound of Spike coming back, when there was another knock at the door.

*creak*

"How about now?"

There was a long pause.

"No."

*CLUNK*

The poor dragon didn't even get to walk away before there was yet another knock.

*creak*

"W-"

"NO!"

This went on a couple more times before Twilight finally got up and went to the door herself just as Spike was about to open it yet again.

Twilight calmly stopped him with her hoof, "It's okay Spike, I'll handle this."

Spike stomped off back to the kitchen and Twilight opened the door.

"How b- Oh hi Twilight!" the party mare said with a smile.

"Hi Pinkie, would you like to join us for breakfast?" she asked.

Pinkie started hopping in place. "Oh! That would be great! I haven't eaten anything today yet and I'm starved."

As she rushed off to the kitchen, Twilight just rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her.

As Twilight came into the kitchen, she saw Pinkie asking her assistant to make some more pancakes for her, the stack Spike had already made being suspiciously gone.

Twilight just ignored the antics of the two and used some magic to send her dishes to the sink for cleaning later, when there was yet another knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" offered Pinkie as she ran off, Spike grumbling something about the spirit of Gluttony being cursed upon his domain.

*creak*

"Oh hi Dashie!"

"Pinkie Pie? What are yo- never mind."

*clunk*

The pink and blue ponies came into the kitchen, the former hopping over to Spike to watch him cook and the latter attempting to look casual.

"Hey Twilight. So, Spike… you um… get any letters from the Pr-"

"NO!"

[] [] []

The rest of the day followed in a similar pattern, with all of the members of the circle of six showing up to "innocently" ask if the letter from Princess Celestia had come yet.

Aside from a moment when Spike had burped, resulting in Pinkie suddenly appearing in a dentist's outfit, complete with implements, and trying to search the baby dragon's mouth for a letter, the day had been rather uneventful, that is until noon rolled around…

"So you see Rainbow Dash, that is why it's very important to keep better care of your mane." lectured Rarity to the pegasus as she closed the book on hair care she had been reading to her.

Dash, to her credit, only had **one** eye rolled back into her skull from boredom.

"Yes Rarity, whatever you say." she responded dispassionately.

"And so by doing this, you could get all those poor little bugs out of your trees without having to hurt any of them." Fluttershy explained from the other side of the room.

The farmer she was talking to sighed exasperatedly, "Fluttershy, they're vermin and they hurt our crops. And this process of Mr. Periwinkle's is just way too complicated to be practical."

Meanwhile, Pinkie was currently scanning the book shelves, trying to find a book she had seen the other day, and Spike was attempting to organize everything.

Twilight was currently sitting at her table in the middle of the room and leaning her head on one hoof while she gazed on all of this with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Well I'm glad SOMETHING was able to get them to actually read a book." she said to herself.

"Aha! Here it is! 'Rainbow Factory'!" shouted Pinkie Pie, holding up a book triumphantly.

However, her discovery was immediately discarded and forgotten when a tell tale BURP erupted from Spike in a flurry of green flame.

Everyone in the room immediately looked in his direction and started running towards the letter before it was suddenly whisked away by Twilight's magic.

"Stop! Stop stop stop! I don't want all of you tearing this thing apart so just calm down and I'll read it out loud." she said, removing the seal to begin reading.

But before she started, she found everyone crowding around her shoulders and trying to read along with her. And though she glanced at them irritably, she didn't push them away.

"To my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, as well as your dearest friends" she began.

This is a question I have been expecting to hear from you someday, though I must admit that I did not expect all of your friends to find such a strong interest in it as well.

As I have read from all of your letters, it seems that you all have very different ideas of what it's like to live for as long as I have. To answer the question you have all posed to me, I have this to say:

You are all right.

It is my firm belief that very few answers in life are simple. Every single nuance and detail must be accounted for in order to understand the whole picture.

Indeed, the amount of knowledge I've accumulated over the centuries is quite impressive and it has been a joy for me to be able to learn as much as I have. But Twilight, you seem to have forgotten something. What does one do once they seem to have learned all there is to know?

One of the things that drives you so much to succeed in life has been your relentless pursuit of knowledge, but what would you plan on doing if you ever did learn all the secrets of the world? 

I bring this up only because I wish to give you the answer I learned long ago for myself. The second step in the path of learning is teaching. I now try my best to impart my knowledge and wisdom on all that I have the chance to teach. It is why I created the 'School for Gifted Unicorns' and other institutes like it, so that the passing of knowledge would be more prevalent in my country and so I could help very special and talented ponies like yourself realize their full potential.

But do not worry my faithful student, I also believe that no matter how much you see and do, there is always something to learn or in some cases re-learn. There will always be more questions out there.

As to how your friends are right as well,

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, though immortality allows one to be very great for a long time, it also bears with it certain responsibilities and concerns that I can see in your letters you yourselves are starting to realize.

To achieve greatness and a place of noteworthiness, also means that people will look to you more. As I hold court every day, I see my little ponies come to me with troubles of all kinds, great and small, simple and complicated and I must also every day, find ways to solve these problems. When I cannot, I feel the regret of letting someone down.

I also must present myself to my subjects as if I were an unshakable pillar of support and wisdom and look every bit the regal and wise monarch that people expect me to be, even when I sometimes would much rather let loose, have a little fun and not worry about how I look to others.

But despite this, knowing that I can be a stable and loyal rock of support for those I care for is something I wouldn't trade for the world. And though I might not be able to provide the answer that someone wants all the time, I try to surround myself with friends and colleagues so that they may help me in those times. 

And yes Pinkie Pie, it is, as you put it, a "fantabulous" thing being able to meet so many people from all across the land. The things I've experienced, the places I've seen, the _good_ parties I've been to… It is always a great thing to simply immerse yourself in the moment and enjoy the simple satisfaction of seeing a rare sight, meeting a new pony, or trying a new thing.

The many friends I have made over the years will always be a true treasure to me and they all brought some kind of happiness to my life in some small or large way.

But, as Applejack has said, there is a dark side to the ability I've been given. The flow of time does not effect those I know like it does me.

As I said before, every friend I have made has brought some sort of joy to my life, but a little bit of that joy is taken away every time I have to see them go. It's a burden that never gets any easier for me, but I also hope it never does, because losing someone precious to you should never be an easy thing for one to experience.

I must also thank all of you again for helping ease that burden by bringing my dear sister back to me. It is my belief that the hardest burden to bear in life is loneliness, because there's no one to help you carry it. Having someone by your side will always ease your troubles. So thank you again, for saving my sister when I could not.

But as Fluttershy said, and I believe this with my whole heart as well, though it pains me to see those I know leave, I also know that they are in a better place. The important thing is that I keep them in my heart and mind and try to make it so no one else forgets them either and I hope that someday, somehow, we all will get to see each other again.

So you see my little ponies? You did not need to ask me what it is like to be immortal. You already had the answer yourselves. You each provided a small part of the larger whole. Through the bonds of your friendship, you were able to get many different views and ideas on a single subject that none of you would have been able to realize on your own.

Friendship helps provide answers to things that are impossible to solve on your own, and you should always cherish it for that.

I hope that my letter has reassured you all on this subject and imparted some knowledge on you as well. I look forward to any other questions you may have for me in the future.

Your mentor, Princess Celestia

P.S. I'm curious to know why I received a bill this morning for fifty plates of hay fries from a restaurant called, 'The Trefoil of Satisfaction'. Perhaps you could find the answer to this?

"SPIKE!"

There. It is all finished. I really hope you've enjoyed my fic here and please tell me about anything you did or didn't like about it in the comments.

A very special thanks goes to theamberfox, who was my beta reader for this story, without him it wouldn't be near as good as it is now, I cannot thank him enough for his time and patience. And check out his story, 'Shadows of the Sun' . if you get the chance!

Also, I plan to do a lot more pony stories in the future so look out for the next one I have planned called, 'S.O.S. Foal Detectives'. Thank you once again.

Ah, and one more thing, I actually referenced three different dragons from other series and one dragon species, can you figure out what the references were?


End file.
